Critical Analysis

Chapter 10 of "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

In this chapter Janie comes into contact with a stranger who enters her store. She is now widowed once again and finds herself challenging her inner feelings and desires for a new flame. These desires lead Janie to discover that her independence is not based solely on her inner feelings, but that they rely upon the acquaintance of a new person in her life. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” we are introduced to a young woman named Janie who through her very own life experiences and journeys discovers herself as a woman. This discovery, which depicts her own expressions and joy along with her own ways of handling situations, leads her into adulthood and true love. Janie’s ability to listen to others patiently, allows her the fortune of gaining knowledge and insight for her future endeavors.
It is in chapter 10 of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” when Janie is finally portrayed as being alone and having to take care of herself without approval of others. Her husband has passed away and she is left in charge of the store that they together managed. The rest of the community is gone for the afternoon at a sporting event and Janie fiddles with the idea of closing the store early for the day. Just before she gets the chance to do so she is introduced to a customer by the name of Tea Cake of whom she takes an immediate liking and becomes very attracted to. It is this attraction of where we discover that Janie’s self discovery really is not solely dependent upon her own actions bur rather on the actions that she is presented with by gaining a new relationship. This is the first time we see Janie truly enjoying herself in the company of a man. Although Janie has come into her self-discovery as a woman she is not totally independent until she completes this discovery with each relationship she under takes. Throughout her upbringing Janie has never been able to truly express herself and was expected to do as the people around her. Her grandmother, her first and second husbands were all people of which Janie relied upon heavily for gaining her independence and through each of these relationships Janie grew to discover that she was dependent on their approval in order to discover herself. With the introduction and newly acquired relationship with Tea Cake, Janie could do as she pleased; she had earned her time and knew from history what she wanted out of life. It is with Tea Cake when Janie learns that life can be filled with play and joy. Tea Cake brings out the playful side of Janie’s self-discovery and leads her to cherish the time she spends with him.
I choose this chapter because it was an uplifting and playful one in my eyes. Janie is finally free and on her own yet she does not continue to do so. She becomes acquainted with Tea Cake and makes a decision to include him in her self-discovery of dependence and fun. She takes a risk and allows a stranger to get close to her in ways of which we would never see occur previous in the novel. It is a chapter of a new beginning for Janie and one where we see her happy, flirtatious and content for the first time all due in part to becoming acquainted with Tea Cake.

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